In the field of semiconductor manufacturing, “soft” errors are caused when alpha particles impact devices within integrated circuit chips. A soft error rate (SER), which measures the number of soft errors, is generally used to gauge the significance of the problem. The soft error rate has become significant as the size of transistors and other devices within integrated circuit chips continues to be reduced. There are two primary sources of alpha particles which can eventually make their way into the device area of the chip, leading to SER problems. The first source is the packaging substrate itself, such as the ceramic substrate on which the chip is joined with copper connections. The second source is the solder such as Sn/Pb or Pb-free (Sn/Ag, Sn/Cu, Sn/Ag/Cu) solder that is used to join the chip to the package, which can also produce alpha particles.